Interesting response from PSU manufacturer?

[NoddyPirate]

Maybe this isn't that strange, but it surprised me at least. I don't fully know what the forum rules are regarding naming Companys but to be safe I won't - although I don't imagine many will have to guess too hard.

A while back when I was trying to figure out what to do in picking a PSU, I found conflicting info on the web about a particular model. Some sources suggested it had DC to DC conversion and other said not. My interpretation is that for a moderate or greater wattage PSU, having DC to DC conversion is a sign of a greater than minimum level of design and build. It means better efficiency and possibility stability too. That's my take at least. So, I emailed a manufacturer I was considering and asked them this:

"........I would greatly appreciate if you could confirm if the XXXXX and/or XXXXX power supplies utilise DC to DC conversion for their 5V and 3.3V supply?"

I heard nothing and have picked a different PSU anyway that works for me but their reply came in today, and it said:

"I apologize but that is not something we are able to share with our end users." followed considerately with a helpful "I'm glad I could be of assistance. If there are no other concerns, I will close this ticket."

I am surprised at that reply. It's not proprietary technology or anything and clearly it is something I possibly doubt and wanted to know, so not telling me will guarantee I look for a different model - which I have.

Standard response or surprisingly evasive? 🤔

 

[Stephen M]

Really do not know what to say about that response, well not on a family friendly forum anyway.

It is a perfectly valid question and I certainly would not buy from a company who answered like that. My response would be to write snail mail to their head office and explain what happened and with a copy of the emails. I may have been in a totally different business but would never have tolerated my staff talking to customers/potential customers like that, not because it is bad for sales because it is down right rude. Why is it so dangerous to share that information, are you going to use it to start World War III ?

I am not a moderator but appreciate your caution in not naming the company, doubt I would have been so kind. Will be very interested to hear what, if any, response you get if you follow this up.

 

[NoddyPirate]

I don't quite take it so personally Stephen. The emails first line was an apology for the delay in response, followed by the text above. It was polite - just perhaps a little too much of an auto reply after line two.

They are entitled not to tell me - I don't have any right to the info - but I just can't figure out why they would hide it? If it was some secret recipe I was looking for or some system or tech that no one else had I would understand. But for a fairly basic question about a PSU I was a bit surprised at the lack of clarity.

I doesn't really bother me too much, but I am somewhat inclined to put the same question to one or two other manufacturers just to see what they say - for no reason other than curiosity.

 

[NoddyPirate]

I just had a look around and I am even more amazed at the response (assuming it was Corsair of course)...given I found a 2013 blog page on the Corsair site with this sentence:

"Corsair utilizes this DC to DC technology in most of their power supplies"

It is a bit weird really. The word 'most' was my reason for asking the question. Most budget or bottom range PSU won't use it as it rquires more components and is more complicated to produce.

But as you say, it weird that they say that publicly but refuse to specifically state what 'most' means.....

 

[NoddyPirate]

Found something on LinusTechTips forum..if it's right, then anything below the CV 650 does not have dc to dc:

Corsair PSU hierarchy cheat sheet

They used to have a page on Corsair.com with a table that showed all of the features of each Corsair PSU and how they differ. It's not there anymore... or it's well hidden. The letters don't really mean anything, so it can be really confusing which Corsair PSU is better than another. So I put thi...

linustechtips.com

Yep I saw that too NurseMorph. There are a few other sources with similar info. The two PSU's I was referring to above in my email to them were the 550 and 650 versions of the CV series - to see if there was in fact a difference between them.

Strange that the 650 would have it but still end up with a Bronze rating. Also strange that it has it while still residing in the CV series line up. Perhaps at that wattage, too much heat is produced without DC to DC and the noise level goes up too far as the fan tries to keep things under control?

All CV and VS series PSU - except the CV650 seems to be group regulated without DC to DC. It may also be the case that these PSU's are generally a low enough wattage where DC to DC doesn't provide a distinct enough advantage and thus they become too expensive to build for what is a lower end market.